updated 12:14 am EST, Tue January 28, 2014

Continues to be world's most popular mobile operating system

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer revealed on Monday during a conference call with analysts that iOS 7, the latest version of Apple's mobile platform, is now running on 80 percent of compatible devices. The milestone represents a two percent uptick since December, and prompted Oppenheimer to mistakenly proclaim it "the most popular operating system in the world," unintentionally dropping the qualifier "mobile."

MixPanel records slightly higher adoption rate

By comparison, the most recent version of Android -- version 4.4, known as KitKat -- is only only 1.5 percent of Android devices. Because Android manufacturers do not release actual end-user sales figures, it is difficult to ascertain what percentage of devices could run KitKat.

A major stumbling block in the Android community, even with compatible devices, is that updates are usually distributed by carriers -- who generally delay or block updates, even involving security fixes, preferring users upgrade to newer devices or spending months testing updates to Android against the company's preferred "skin" and software, which must also be compatible. As a result, few Android devices ever get more than one software update in the course of their useful lives.